


Friends

by iwritetrash



Series: Stormpilot One Shots [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: 'Just Friends', Angst, M/M, Pining, Poe Pining for Finn, Slow Burn, Too scared to make the first move
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 01:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6065434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwritetrash/pseuds/iwritetrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe is in love with Finn, and he's come to terms with the fact that Finn probably doesn't love him back, but it's getting harder and harder for him to convince himself that they're just friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - Inspired by the song 'Friends' by Ed Sheeran.

They’re friends. That’s what Poe tells himself when his eyes lock with Finn’s across the landing strip after a long mission and they both break into a sprint until they collide, a tangle of arms around waists and legs pressing between eachother and faces burrowing into shoulders.

“I missed you.” Finn breathes softly into his shoulder, where his face is buried as he inhales Poe’s scent, unmarred by weeks on a mission.

“I missed you too, buddy.” Poe replies quietly, his chin resting on Finn’s shoulder, his arms around his waist, his eyes pressing shut as he just feels Finn’s body pressed up against his for the first time in what seems an eternity. All too soon Finn is pulling back to hold Poe at arms length and look him straight in the eye.

“Don’t scare me like that again.” Finn orders him and his voice it filled with such sincerity, such fear, that Poe can only nod and promise that he will never take risks again, especially not risks which will double the length of his mission.

Poe reminds himself they’re just friends when Finn grabs him by the hand and tugs him straight to Poe’s room, which Finn has now moved into instead of finding a new place, telling him that he wants to show him something, Finn wants to show him something important.

When they reach the room, Finn picks up what appears to be a sketchbook and nervously holds it out to Poe. As he flicks through, Poe realises that Finn has been drawing the entire time he was gone, sketching and shading in charcoal, lord knows where he got it from, and he’s good. Really good. There are drawings of Rey, General Organa, sketches of X-wings and landscapes, there are even sketches of BB-8. But there also pages upon pages of drawings of Poe. Fixing up his X-wing, walking around the resistance base with BB-8, there are sketches of his profile, drawings of his smile, rough depictions of his faces littered in the corners of every page, and every portrait, as if he got distracted halfway through and started doodling his face. Poe even comes across one of the two of them together, although Finn seems eager for him to carry on flicking through, so he isn’t able to pause for long on that one. When he finishes looking through the book, Finn nervously asks him what he thinks.

“Finn, these are... Amazing.” Poe grins at him. “Where did you learn to draw like that?”

“Self-taught, I guess, it wasn’t exactly encouraged on the First Order, but I Jess gave me the sketchbook and charcoal and I just... drew.” Finn smiles back, and his smile is so breathtaking Poe has to remind his heart to keep beating and his lungs to keep breathing.

Poe promises himself that they’re only friends when Finn crawls into his bed after a really bad nightmare and rests his head right over where Poe’s heart is beating.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Poe whispers softly in the darkness of the room. Finn shakes his head in response and Poe can feel damp tears dripping onto the soft t-shirt he sleeps in. Finn nestles deeper into his chest and Poe has to hope that his erratic heartbeat isn’t too obvious, though he knows it will be, as he brings his arms up around Finn’s shoulders and tightens his soft grip to remind him that he’s here, he’s safe.

Finn is asleep within minutes, but not before murmuring a sleepy ‘Thank-you’, in a voice so soft and innocent that Poe’s heart melts for the beautiful man resting his head on his chest. Poe hardly sleeps that night, captivated by the soft rise and fall of Finn’s chest as he sleeps, the gentle snores that escape his mouth, the slackness of his jaw as he sleeps, making him look entirely at peace. Poe can do nothing but stare at the man curled up next to him and feel the way their bodies are pressed together, legs intertwined, arms looped lazily around eachother.

Poe forces himself to remember they’re just friends when Rey comes home and Finn rushes towards her and sweeps her up in his arms, swinging her around in a wide arc.

“I’ve missed you so much!” Finn cries and Poe can’t help the deep ache in his gut when he realises that Finn will always care for Rey just a little bit more. He misses her ‘so much’ instead of just missing her, like he did when Poe went away. He seems more excited, more vibrant, just more, now that Rey is here. They go off immediately in a huddle of whispers and grins, and it isn’t until the evening that Finn even acknowledges Poe’s presence again.

“Poe, this is Rey, I don’t know if you’ve met...” Finn introduces them and Rey gives him an enthusiastic smile.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Poe smiles, putting on a charismatic façade.

“I’ve heard a lot about you too, Finn told me all about the best pilot in the resistance.” Rey gushes, turning to grin at Finn. Poe laughs at Finn’s slightly embarrassed expression, although he couldn’t help but wish Finn would confide in him as he seemed to with Rey. As soon as dinner was over, Poe excused himself and returned to his room, telling himself he was just giving Finn and Rey some time to catch up, but knowing in his heart that he couldn’t stand to see them together.

But what right did he have to dislike Rey? She was lovely, funny, smart, happy to talk about various ships and she was Finn’s.... whatever she was, he could have at least made more of an effort to really get along with her. It wasn’t like him and Finn were together, and if they weren’t together, he was well within his rights to find someone else, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Poe found it harder to remember this when Finn came in later that night to find him crying and kissed him gently n the forehead as he whispered soothingly, under the presumption that he had had a nightmare, when in all actuality, he hadn’t even been asleep.

Poe distanced himself after that. Friends didn’t share beds or hug eachother the way they did or get jealous about the other’s love interests. Friends shouldn’t. Poe knew that, and so he stayed away, stood back, put some space between them, and for a while it seemed that Finn didn’t notice, too caught up in Rey to realise anything was different, until he woke up to find Poe sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, his entire body covered in a sheen of sweat, as he stared blankly at the wall.

“Poe, if you had a nightmare you should have woken me up.” Finn whispers gently as he takes a seat next to him. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” He asks, more concerned this time.

“Not now, Finn.” Poe sighs wearily, and Finn nods, knowing and understanding.

“Okay, we can talk in the morning.” He smiles, before gently lifting Poe into the bed and tugging him close. Poe has the best night’s sleep he’s had in weeks, nestled into Finn’s chest.

Poe avoids Finn the next morning, but Finn corners him in the evening and demands to know why Poe didn’t wake him up like he usually would have. Poe stammers something about not wanting to bother him but Finn sees straight through him.

“Bullshit.” He seethes. “Poe, you’re being distant, don’t think I haven’t noticed, but I don’t understand what I did wrong.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Finn.” Poe sighs sadly, avoiding his gaze.

“Then wha-“ Finn begins but it seems to dawn on him as he speaks, and he pauses halfway through. “You, uh, Rey told me you liked me, as in, like like, and I didn’t think it was true because you were avoiding me but...”

“It’s a self preservation thing.” Poe chokes out. “You have Rey now anyway, you don’t need me hanging around and getting in the way. If you don’t mid, I’ll, uh, be on my way.” Poe makes a beeline for the door but Finn blocks the doorway.

“Actually, I do mind.” He replies quickly and Poe steps back, but Finn steps forwards to close the space between them. Poe’s eyes fix on the gentle curl of Finn’s lips, and in that moment, with Finn so close, Poe forgets that they’re friends and closes the distance between them, until they are a tangle of lips on lips and hands in hair and arms around waists and tongues sliding against eachother. Eventually Finn pulls back and rests his forehead gently against Poe’s.

“You thought Rey was my girlfriend?” Finn smiles and Poe, still slightly dazed, snaps immediately to attention in shock.

“She’s not?” He asks incredulously.

“Of course not, I like you.” Finn states, as though it had been written in the stars.

“Well thank the stars.” Poe whispers, before closing the gap between their lips again.

They’re not really friends, and now that Poe thinks about it, they probably never were.


End file.
